The Last Doctor
by jammywho
Summary: The story of the thirteenth Doctor and how he dies saving the day one last time.
1. Chapter 1

Death was waiting for the Doctor. His 13th death to be precise. He'd been aware of it for some time, ever since he visited the planet Arcturo-Septiva 2 relative weeks ago. It was a nice enough planet with lower gravity than Earth, so he'd enjoyed the ludicrously high jumps he'd achieved. The locals were an interesting bunch as well. Three and a half thumbs each, all on the same hand. They'd also developed an ability to perceive the future telepathically due to a rift opening in their atmosphere. Only temporary, as it turned out, but it hadn't stopped the locals looking at him in a weird way. It was remarkably cold though, so he'd set up a fire for himself using his sonic screwdriver

The Septivans weren't accustomed to alien visitors, especially not ones who magically conjure up fire from nowhere, so he'd been tied up, tortured (lightly) and it was then that he had his death foretold to him by their chief witchfinder. He'd told him that he would burn in his own hell. That he would burn brilliantly for mere minutes before falling into the darkness.

The Doctor had been sceptical; especially once the warlock had tried to carry out the prophecy himself with the sonic screwdriver. What the warlock hadn't realised was the screwdriver was set to _skeleton key._ He'd accidentally undone the Doctor's chains and allowed him to get back to the TARDIS –albeit without his trusty tool.

It was here where he started debating his purpose in life. He was, without doubt, the most influential being in existence, barring Gods. Is that what he was, now? After all, he'd met quite a few Gods, he'd slain the devil for crying out loud. He'd lived for millennia and seen sights many never dreamed of. In fact, he'd seen nearly everything. What else was there for him to see –a constantly expanding universe for surprisingly small, he realised, as he perused his TARDIS' console. The TARDIS, hmm, actually, there's a thought. With the entirety of time and space outside his front door, he'd never had a thorough look round the twisting corridors of the dimensionally transcendental time machine he called home.

The cloister bell sounded –that tour would have to wait- he rushed to the monitor. Oh, that wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. Time corridor technology- only a few fractions of a light year away; he hadn't seen that since… since…

Oh Gods. Oh me. That could only mean one thing. Actually, maybe two things. Was that an osmic sustenance field to stabilise the corridor? Those were two technologies exclusive to two of the most hated races in the cosmos. Really it didn't bear thinking about; were they working together? No…no…nonononono.

The Sontarans and the Daleks? It made sense. Wherever the daleks went there would be war, and the sontarans would go wherever there was war, just on the off chance of joining in. One killed for the sake of supremacy, the other for fun, united by their love of death. And now death was raining over the planet Carcerin. Dalek saucers crowded the skies and sontaran footsoldiers swarmed the planet's surface. Someone had to stop it. Someone will, he thought.

And so, with the pull of a few levers and the pushing of a few buttons, as well as a generous supply of kicking, the Doctor piloted his TARDIS through the time vortex with gusto. Daleks had caused him more than enough trouble for a lifetime; more than enough trouble for thirteen lifetimes.


	2. Chapter 2

13th Who

Death was waiting for the Doctor. His 13th death to be precise. He'd been aware of it for some time, ever since he visited the planet Arcturo-Septiva 2 relative weeks ago. It was a nice enough planet with lower gravity than Earth, so he'd enjoyed the ludicrously high jumps he'd achieved. The locals were an interesting bunch as well. Three and a half thumbs each, all on the same hand. They'd also developed an ability to perceive the future telepathically due to a rift opening in their atmosphere. Only temporary, as it turned out, but it hadn't stopped the locals looking at him in a weird way. It was remarkably cold though, so he'd set up a fire for himself using his sonic screwdriver

The Septivans weren't accustomed to alien visitors, especially not ones who magically conjure up fire from nowhere, so he'd been tied up, tortured (lightly) and it was then that he had his death foretold to him by their chief witchfinder. He'd told him that he would burn in his own hell. That he would burn brilliantly for mere minutes before falling into the darkness.

The Doctor had been sceptical; especially once the warlock had tried to carry out the prophecy himself with the sonic screwdriver. What the warlock hadn't realised was the screwdriver was set to _skeleton key._ He'd accidentally undone the Doctor's chains and allowed him to get back to the TARDIS –albeit without his trusty tool.

It was here where he started debating his purpose in life. He was, without doubt, the most influential being in existence, barring Gods. Is that what he was, now? After all, he'd met quite a few Gods, he'd slain the devil for crying out loud. He'd lived for millennia and seen sights many never dreamed of. In fact, he'd seen nearly everything. What else was there for him to see –a constantly expanding universe for surprisingly small, he realised, as he perused his TARDIS' console. The TARDIS, hmm, actually, there's a thought. With the entirety of time and space outside his front door, he'd never had a thorough look round the twisting corridors of the dimensionally transcendental time machine he called home.

The cloister bell sounded –that tour would have to wait- he rushed to the monitor. Oh, that wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. Time corridor technology- only a few fractions of a light year away; he hadn't seen that since… since…

Oh Gods. Oh me. That could only mean one thing. Actually, maybe two things. Was that an osmic sustenance field to stabilise the corridor? Those were two technologies exclusive to two of the most hated races in the cosmos. Really it didn't bear thinking about; were they working together? No…no…nonononono.

The Sontarans and the Daleks? It made sense. Wherever the daleks went there would be war, and the sontarans would go wherever there was war, just on the off chance of joining in. One killed for the sake of supremacy, the other for fun, united by their love of death. And now death was raining over the planet Carcerin. Dalek saucers crowded the skies and sontaran footsoldiers swarmed the planet's surface. Someone had to stop it. Someone will, he thought.

And so, with the pull of a few levers and the pushing of a few buttons, as well as a generous supply of kicking, the Doctor piloted his TARDIS through the time vortex with gusto. Daleks had caused him more than enough trouble for a lifetime; more than enough trouble for thirteen lifetimes.

With its trademark vwooorp vwoorp, the Tardis materialised amidst the Carceranean capital; little did the Doctor know that that would be the penultimate time he would ever hear it. The brilliant blueness of the TARDIS set it apart from the fires of the capital – that wasn't even the worst part. This was one of the few patches in this city that had yet to be razed to the ground.

Of course the Doctor didn't know that, he didn't check the external scanners. He never did. This was perhaps why he had as many adventures as he had. A sense of recklessness shared by no other time lord, not even the master, who was by nature, evil, but carefully so.

And so he left through the double doors with no real plan –as always- knowing he'd stop the daleks and the sontarans before moving swiftly on to bigger and better things. He stepped out into the inferno – for all of two seconds.

"EXTERMINATE!"

A dalek turned around, facing the TARDIS, firing a beam of pure energy that would have hit the doctor right between the eyes, had he not fallen swiftly to the floor in defence. Quickly he scooted back into the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him, but not before a brief burst of energy seared through the gap, destroying one of the many lights that illuminated the console room.

Immediately the doc realised how foolhardy he'd been- he couldn't defeat the daleks without a firm plan of action. He rushed to the control panel and began hitting the keys in a manner that others would call random, but that Gallifreyans would call transcendentally organised. (Gallifreyans were generally messy, but always had that air of aloofness that made you think that their room was somehow cleaner than you thought it was)

A great many plans rushed through his mind; so many friends he could call on, so many enemies he could trick into helping him, so many constellations just waiting for glory with a side helping of Doctor.

But it was not to be.

Only as the Doctor pulled the lever hat would normally launch him through time and space did it hit him. The TARDIS wasn't working. A darkness was descending upon the console room, as gradually each bulb that usually shone so very brightly were noiselessly being extinguished, without even a single dying sound.

And as the Doctor looked around the shattered glass littered around the TARDIS, he realised he was alone. No companion, no time travel; the universe was off limits to him, and he was stuck on this planet swarming with the most ruthless and dangerous villains he'd ever had the displeasure to face.

He was going to die here…

How to proceed:

-daleks shut down the tardis, but still can't get in.

-daleks and sontarans taunt the doctor as they quickly conquer the planet

-the imperial weapons dalek is used to break down the doors

-the tardis console shattering forms the shape of an arrow

-the tardis warps around him leading him to a room with twelve pedestals

-holograms of all twelve doctors emerge and combine with him

-a man with thirteen minds can only know one thirteenth of the truth

-the tardis doors are broken down and the sontarans and daleks swarm in

-the doctor enters the tardis inner sanctum (bigger on the inside than the inside)

-the daleks and sontarans overtake the whole planet

-the doctor disables the chameleon circuit, and it becomes the correct size

-the doctor removes every dalek and sontaran from the planet

-the doctor opens the eye of harmony and engulfs the planet

-the heart of the tardis opens to him and he communicates with all his previous companions to tell them that he loved them and closes the black hole.

-NB: continue work on previous doctor who stories


	3. Chapter 3

A dying planet, a dying TARDIS, a dying Doctor.

Well, at least the daleks won't be able to get through those doors, he thought. The TARDIS has several protocols for these sorts of events, most notably the time freeze. It kept the exterior of the TARDIS in a static temporal state, so the interior and exterior would remain in normal time, but the casing always remained in the same state it was in when the time freeze initiated. It was a highly advanced technology, invented during the time war, powered by relocating time energy to a central temporal storage unit on Gallifrey.

Gallifrey…

His one great regret; the destruction of his home planet; a grim necessity in a time war descending further and further into barbarism and anarchy in every second. So many friends dead and for nothing. The daleks remained, reeking further destruction on the galaxy. How many daleks were here, on this planet? In the universe? How many would there be without him to control their population?

But perhaps, most importantly, how could he stop them, and how long would that door hold? The daleks had found a way through the time freeze in the time war with a typically dalek ideology. They'd placed a massively powerful gun onto a dalek casing with the power to hack its way through any temporally static material. The power it required to operate meant it required an immensely potent energy source. It was said that the radiation given off by that power source could make a dalek insane…

Well, even more insane. And several times more deadly.

Although the daleks hadn't used these weapons in centuries. It should take them a while to search their archives and a while to build the weapon. He had a couple of days at most.

The planet probably wouldn't have that long, however, so he had to do something soon. But what could he do?

Of course! He has what he always had; the TARDIS! With its endless corridors, its many rooms; the library, the swimming pool, the chocolate factory (which only he and a certain author friend of his had ever seen), but most importantly, he still had the souvenir room, where he kept various keepsakes from his many adventures. There must be something in there he could use.

He practically galloped up the stairs of the console room, when he heard a buzzing which filled the room like a swarm of bees followed by a voice dripping with menace;

"Doctor…"

Then louder

"Doctooor…"

"DOCTOR!"


	4. Chapter 4

An echo rippled through the corridors of the TARDIS and the Doctor ran.

It seemed the TARDIS was no longer safe. It had been his home for several years, his only reprieve between dangers and the only certainty in a shifting and entropic universe. But now it was lost to him, slowly filling up with a booming and all consuming voice.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

The Doctor stumbled and fell, turning quickly to see behind him, but there was nothing there. The voice called his name again, coming from all directions at once, all aimed directly at him.

"What? Who is this?"

Panic fell upon the Doctor. His TARDIS was lost, and his mind seemed to be following. Soon he'd be stripped of everything he held dear.

"Ah, Doctor, there you are. Hiding away in your little box, I see. Still as much of a coward as ever"

"I'm afraid the Doctor isn't in right now; please leave a message after the beep"

Gladly his sense of humour hadn't left him.

"Humour, Doctor? The last resort of the scared"

"Scared, of course I'm scared! There's an armada outside consisting of the two most dangerous species in the cosmos, my TARDIS is dying and there's a voice from nowhere and everywhere at once insulting me, which I'm not fond of."

"Fear is not befitting a veteran of your standards, Doctor"

"Au contraire, oddly disembodied voice. I'm 2000 years old and I'm bloody terrified ever other day, -I'd say the two facts are related."

"We Sontarans have no need for fear"

"Aha, so you're a Sontaran! Point one for fear!"

"Fear is weakness"

"No. Fear is paranoia and checking and seeing everything that could possibly go wrong and finding solutions for them. What you have is complacency. You're going to overlook something very important just because you have a vast fleet and I have almost nothing."

"Almost nothing?"

"Alright, nothing. But that's still no reason to be cocky. Besides, nothing can get through those doors, so we've got a bit of a stalemate."

"Almost nothing"

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me. Goodbye, Doctor"

A mocking laugh spun through the air like a typhoon, before swiftly silencing.

And yet, he wasn't quite as scared as he was surprised that a Sontaran could hold a conversation for quite so long. Most of them that he'd met had the wit and charm of… well…potatoes.

Smart Sontarans – that is new.


	5. Chapter 5

The doors closed behind him as he entered the zero room and with it he was in total isolation. He hadn't been in here since his fifth incarnation. It had been jettisoned some time ago to make a hasty escape, but he's rebuilt it sometime in his twelfth body. It was odd to think of himself as thirteen different people, almost never meeting, sharing nothing but memories and an eccentric dress sense.

The room itself was a perfect sphere- so perfect in fact that the doors were at the equator. He strode forward, in a meditative state, concentrating so hard that his feet touching nothing but air. As he levitated in the centre of the room, he let go of all distractions, focusing solely on how he could get out of this mess.

"I hope you're not getting too comfortable, Doctor"

He fell to the floor. So much for no distractions…

"Can't a time lord relax in the privacy of his own sealed-off-from-the-rest-of-existence zero room?" He retorted.

"Since when do you relax?"

A good point. So much travelling, so little rest.

"Since when do Sontarans have such advanced vocal transmission technology? You're not usually ones for talking."

"This technology was claimed as the spoils of war from the battle of Logopolis. Thinkers, not fighters, that lot. They surrendered and we shot them. Not fun. They made a lot of technology and we found a way to make all of it into weapons"

"But Logopolis survives until the end of the universe. I've been there, then"

"Not any more. Too much time travel going on. So much changes. It's your ship's fault, you know. Created a temporal arms race. I suppose for you, it's a good thing we've killed it; the last of the type 40 TARDISes, and soon, the last time lord."

"How did you know it was a type 40? And you still haven't told me why there's so much talking."

"Another recent development. I believe it's called Si-co-loj-ikal (you could hear him sounding it out) warfare."

"5 syllables, impressive"

"Yes, I don't know what it means, but it's got the word warfare in it, which is good. There's a new smarter clone batch of Sontarans with advanced mental skills who thunk it up. They say it's a lot like punching an enemy's brain in the face."

On the floor, the Doctor noticed a trapdoor on the floor. He'd never noticed it before; he'd been too focused. 2 millennia of owning this TARDIS, but it still held a few surprises. He pulled it open to reveal a new corridor, albeit one on its side. Nevermind, the artificial gravity should kick in as soon as he…

…ow.

He pulled himself up, majorly bruised, with a few broken bones. He had forgotten the TARDIS had no power, so gravity was just going to function whichever way it wanted. This could be problematic.

The voice followed him.

"News from the front, Doctor. The planet is ours. No organised resistance remains. 42% of the population is dead. 31% are injured. 30% are waiting. And what did you do in this war, Doctor? How many soldiers have you killed in this battle? How many lives have you saved? None."

The Sontaran was right. Like being punched in the brain.

"And what of the Daleks? What casualties?"

"Only minor casualties on the Dalek-Sontaran side."

"Well that's about to change"


	6. Chapter 6

Above the planet, smoke filled the skies. No light penetrated the atmosphere, but there was more than enough coming from the fires. From the smoke descended a tornado column, which dispersed to reveal a heavy duty dalek transporter. Six mechanical legs separated from the main body as it landed. Closer inspection revealed a perfectly circular hole in the metre thick casing of the ship. The thud as it hit the ground rocked the inside of the TARDIS

"Field Marshall Salazar" the voice of a Sontaran trooper buzzed through the TARDIS, "The abomination has arrived"

"Salazar, eh?" Finally his tormentor has a name "I've heard about you. You lead from the front lines in the Hoth massacre and the Sacking of the Sycorax. You've killed more aliens than any other Sontaran and they've got you on box-watch?"

"What could be more glorious than the bringing about the death of the universe's greatest warrior?"

"No, you'll never get the chance. The daleks won't allow it. In fact, I don't know what you've been thinking in teaming up with them. They'll take your glory and your lives. They don't make alliances, they only make corpses. The moment this is done, they'll slaughter your entire species."

"There will indeed be a slaughter, Doctor, but it will be by our hands. Your death will start a glorious war between the daleks and the Sontaran empire, rivalling and surpassing the time war itself!"

"Well, I'd better not die then"

"Your death will come soon. All we need is to open those doors. And now we have the key." A whirring sound came from the ship.

"What's in there? Your key?"

"The key to your destruction."

Ten Sontaran troopers ran into the ship and surrounded the cargo; a cylindrical cell with a hole leading from it to the outside of the ship. A radioactive green light came from within. The pressing of a few keys started the procedure to open the cell; technology last used in the construction of the Pandorica. Several seconds later, the column lifted, revealing a dalek without an eyestalk and a singular mounted cannon in place of the death ray and plunger. This was a dalek built not for using technology or analysing the enemy, but solely for destruction. This was the last Special Weapons Dalek.


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor walked along this new dark corridor, with passages leading in all directions, (including up and down); a dark honeycomb pattern sprawled across the walls, occasionally flickering red and blue, appearing wooden then metallic. This was a good sign. Some power was trying to be restored to the doctor's location. The flickering was due to the tardis' telepathic circuit trying to identify which version of the doctor was using it. The problem with this was the effect on the doctor's mind.

He fell down and the floor shuddered under him. Images of his every face flashed through his mind. His mind switched back and forth. From black and white to blinding colour mixes. From old to new. Everything he'd ever done was happening to him all at once. Memories streamed through until they all became one. His hands clutched over his temples and he screamed in pain.

He opened his eyes once again to view the corridor. It no longer flickered, but the walls had become a mix of crystal and metal and coral and several other materials the tardis had built itself from over the years. His mind soothed as he stood up. He looked around. The walls weren't the only things to have changed. The labyrinthian structure had collapsed into a single passage with a single door at the end. The door itself was marked with a Gallifreyan symbol for unity- a curious icon which when inverted spelled death. He lifted his hand towards the door and it space shifted as the door moved towards him. A click of his fingers and the door opened for him.

He stepped through as the door closed and the corridor dissolved behind him.

The Special Weapons Dalek was moved into position. It stood fifty metres before the time frozen TARDIS, weapon raised. Radiation prickled through the casing, heating the air around it, as if all the dalek's hatred was escaping.

It didn't of course, as the radiation from the scarlet plasmodium core had long since caused the mental breakdown of the putrid creature living inside it. It writhed with madness and loathing; this creature too mad to be called a dalek anymore. All that it could do was destroy and that was what it was about to do.

The Sontarans retreated to a safe distance of half a kilometre away as the weapon drew power from its surroundings, charging itself. The barrel glowed blindingly white before leasing a beam of energy towards the tardis. The door shook and shone- the background whited out against the awesome power of the beam. A cone of light erupted from the atmosphere. It was as if a nuclear bomb had struck the planet.

As the fallout cleared and the dalek forces assembled, only two things remained. The scorch marks left by the destruction of the special weapons dalek and a TARDIS darkened by the blast and with its doors blown inwards, vulnerable.


	8. Chapter 8

Elsewhere the dalek and sontaran forces ravaged the planet. All resistance was quickly and efficiently crushed by the onslaught of their superior technology. Dalek and Sontaran tech had always been geared towards war; their civilizations didn't trade or produce, so their species depended on the spoils of war. This would be a serious weakness were they not so good at killing.

The fires levelled the planet, battlefields were strewn with corpses. Buildings crumbled under heavy fire, crushing any and all survivors hiding within. Dalek ships razed the ground into a perfectly flat surface as dalek soldiers trailed behind along the ground in battle formation.

"News from the front, doctor" screamed the voice through the TARDIS. "All major resistance is crushed. 86% casualties. Soon the planet will be ours. What's more; the doors to your machine are open. Once the radiation is at a below fatal level, my forces will storm the TARDIS. We will find you, doctor and end you. There will be no hesitation and no parlay. The moment you are within our range, we shoot to kill. The secret of regeneration escapes us, but our records suggest this is your thirteenth and final face. There will be no salvation for you. This will be your final and most total defeat. Goodbye Doctor."

The words rang in all of the TARDIS' many rooms but one. In that room the doctor stood. Around him stood twelve screens, each marked with gallifreyan numerals. As the doctor walked into the middle, the door behind him vanished. Around him, the panels flickered into life. Through them he could see landscapes, skies, old faces, memories. His head turned; his mind dizzying. Androzani, Pompeii, Jamie, Varos, Slitheen, New York, Bessie, Fenric, Peri, Rose, the Braxtiel collection, Grace, the fall of Arcadia, Terminus, Sarah Jane, Skaro, Demon's run, Sil, Ace, the eye of Orion, Metebilis 3, London, Nyssa, the Brigadier, Gallifrey, Susan.

Then his own faces materialized on each screen in turn, a silver haired old man, a cosmic hobo with a recorder, a martial artist in a cape, a mad scientist with a scarf far too long, a cricketer with a decorative vegetable, a genius with a silly coat, a clown in a sweater, a curly haired gentleman, a leather-clad survivor, a pinstriped hair-gelled traveller, a mad man in a bow tie.

And one he didn't get a good look at, but whose identity he knew too well.

As he looked around, he recognised each and every face not as individuals, but as necessary parts of himself. He was not separate thirteen time lords but one who lived his life thirteen times. It was only and alawys him. He heard a voice behind him.

"A man is the sum of his memories, you know, and a time lord is even more so"

He turned to see his fifth life standing behind him, smiling sadly. As he looked, he saw the fifth screen had emptied.

"What is this? How are you here?"

"Weeeell… you see, the TARDIS is a tricky thing." A handsome quiff stared at him in an absent minded way; "if I were any sort of authority on the matter, which, if I'm humble, I am, I'd say it's the TARDIS' memory bank"

"Yes. It's rather good isn't it" He turned to see a short man with golf trousers walking out of his screen. "I'd wager it's going to take me about eleven lifetimes to get my head around this."

"Oh come now, come now." He was blinded by a flashy ill-advised coat. "It's so much more than that. We all know who you are, and you no doubt know who we are. Who could forget us?"

"But how do we know you, dear boy? When you haven't happened yet?" his third life emerged from his screen. "We're all parts of you, but more than that."

An umbrella was flung over the shoulder of a sweatered man. "All of us are part of a much llllllargerrrrr whole"

"All our minds, fitting together like a puzzle spanning dimensions" chimed a smiling waistcoated curly haired man.

"Imagine, if you will- if I will- that we experience every single regeneration at one time- had access to all those memories and traits." A wide grin beneath curly hair greeted him. "Why, you could have someone possibly smarter and better than me. I'm not making any promises though."

"But how could this happen?" asked his thirteenth self.

"It's all very complicated, it's got all our temporal markers stored inside an 11 dimensional matrix that records- it's all wibbly wobbly timey wimey"

An incoherent mumbling came from the figure in the shadows, but who seemed reassuring all the same.

"You do this now, you can join with us and we can figure out a way to wipe all these damned Sontarans and all these stinking daleks off the face of the planet."

"Now now. Less of this chitchat." An authoritative elderly voice came form behind him. He turned to see his original self standing behind him. "The time has come. My enemies are here. We must join." He extended his hand.

The Doctor understood. He walked to the centre of the room as the others surrounded him in order. As one, they moved towards him, the lines between them blurring; the room seemed to revolve as they became a vortex of colour encircling him. Soon, they entered his being. He shone until every trace of his previous forms was gone. His nerves tingled as all his personalities became one. Thirteen old men had become one new man, heavy with the weight of the universe.

He collapsed to the floor, eyes closed.


	9. Chapter 9

He opened his eyes, which glowed with the knowledge of a thousand civilisations and several lifetimes' worth of learning; the TARDIS morphed around him. He felt like he was in every room simultaneously. All at once he could see the library, the console room, the swimming pool, the engine room, the console room, all joining together through several dimensions, showing the TARDIS to be one massive ship straining against the cage of the much smaller exterior. The TARDIS and he were one; he suddenly had access to every memory bank, every inch of its interior, every secret it ever held from him.

But he also felt its pain; its doors had been blown open, exposing the console room and the rest if its machinery, its vital organs like a gaping wound. Already the Daleks and Sontarans swarmed through it like bacteria. They flooded through the corridors in every direction with nothing to stop them.

The TARDIS was nearly infinite on the inside, so he could hide from them for years, but without power he had no food and a limited supply of oxygen, both of which the Daleks could survive without. The longer he waited, the more the attacking forces would penetrate the ship, more of the TARDIS would be stripped of its parts and the closer the enemy would get to understanding and using Time Lord Technology for nefarious purposes. Additionally, there was a planet he needed to save.

Right now, he could do nothing but evade the intrusive armies, not without power, and in a dying TARDIS, there was only one place he could get it from, but the consequences of activating it could be disastrous if played improperly.

In a single step, he was transported into the centre of the TARDIS; the engine room. Before him flared the Eye of Harmony glowing orange, but frozen in time, suspending in a perpetual state of collapse into a black hole. The star taken from its position in space and condensed into a transcendental dimension; the power source of the TARDIS.

And he was going to blow it up.

Not all at once, of course; with his newly found knowledge of the TARDIS, he could reduce the effects of the time freeze so that the star could start burning slowly and generate power for the TARDIS circuits. Unfortunately he couldn't control the Eye due to the damage dealt to the TARDIS; for every second he allowed it to burn, the star would continue to collapse until it became an all consuming black hole that devoured the TARDIS from the inside. With luck he could refreeze the star once this mess was sorted out until he could get it into a more stable state, but for now he'd have to take the risk.

He tapped the keys on the control panel rapidly in a seemingly random, but carefully choreographed series of motions. The sun's flames flickered into life; coronae rippled across the surface and heated the console room. Lights lit up like stars around the TARDIS as the Doctor tried to channel them into more efficient use. The TARDIS was alive once again.

The brief flash of lights throughout the TARDIS alerted the invaders to the shift in power and redoubled their efforts as they flushed through the veins of the machine like shrapnel, shredding the insides and raiding the internal machinery and circuitry, slowly destroying the TARDIS once again. Forces of millions of aliens filled the near infinite space inside, streaming through the doors, all hungry for the glory of killing the Doctor.

For today would be the day the Doctor died.


	10. Chapter 10

"Where are you, Doctor?" boomed Salazar.

"Salazar, my boy, I've been wondering where you were. Thought you might've damaged your vocal chords. Or died. Shame."

"I see you've kept your sense of humour, even in the face of impossible odds. That is the trait of a warrior. I'll enjoy ripping it out of you"

"I believe you called for a reason; you can't track me in here. There are too many rooms. Space means nothing."

"I thought you'd like to know that life has been completely removed from the planet. A total victory for the Sontaran Empire. The Daleks are razing the surface of the planet even as we speak."

"Have you no guilt, no remorse?"

"Guilt doesn't win wars"

"But it builds character; it builds civilisations. You can't build a city or a planet or a galaxy by destroying everything else. All war does is remind us that there are better ways to settle our differences. Your species never learned that lesson. You don't learn from you victories or your losses; from your oppressors or your victims; mto learn sympathy. You've never developed."

"We've proved our mastery over hundreds of planets. We need no developments"

"Sure you do. Nobody's perfect, except me, possibly. Well, I can't sew worth a damn, but apart from that… You're fighting a war against one man, for which you seem to need allies, who will kill each and every one of you as soon as this is over. I think you could stand to evolve a little."

"Evolution, Doctor? Survival of the fittest? Surely the people of Carcerin need evolution more than us, seeing as they didn't survive"

The Doctor's hearts stopped for a moment. "What are the casualties?"

"100%"

"Give me numbers, Salazar. I realise it may be more than you can count, but your battle computers will have recorded every single death for the _glory of the Sontaran Empire _or whatever, and I personally plan on avenging every last one of them."

"Total sentient casualties: three billion, two hundred and ninety five million, seven hundred and forty thousand and eighty- why are you laughing?"

"This is the glory of Sontar? A Population class C planet? Of this size?"

"Yes; my second largest planetary conquest. Another glorious…"

"A planet four thirds the size of Jupiter? With an intelligence classification of 6? Oh you Sontarans, you're so stupid. You've won thousands of interplanetary conflicts, always using the same tactics; swarming the planet, trampling your enemies with sheer force of numbers, but you don't have a single tactical mind amongst you. You're your own worst enemy, you know that? Because now I can win this war with no further civilian casualties and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"We can shoot you dead"

"Well, technically, yes. I've been supposed to die for a while now, but if I'm going to die, I'm going to save a few billion lives in the process."

"There are no more lives to save, Doctor; it's impossible"

"I'm the Doctor, saving lives and doing the impossible is sort of what I do."


	11. Chapter 11

Maybe he'd given too much away. Perhaps his arrogance, which had permeated every one of his lives, had betrayed his secret. If they found out, it could mean the deaths of millions of Carcerinians; yes some were still alive. If he remembered his history correctly, then some time ago, the population had moved deep underground to escape a century-long corona flare, and many chose to remain underground, having formed a self sufficient near-utopian society that lived there for generations.

A quick scan from the TARDIS computer confirmed the existence of several million life forms below; the remains of the Carcerin population. The links between the surface and the world below had been severed a while ago, but a few abandoned vertical bridges still remained, although closed. For now, the daleks and the sontarans had no idea what stayed sheltered below, but if they understood what he'd let slip, everyone underground could soon be extinct.

Although if this plan worked, he could be responsible for the extinction of two more species; the entire Dalek and Sontaran species had gathered from across the stars to exterminate the Doctor. Every single wretched specimen was here; ready to fall into his trap. With a single sequence of numbers and switches, every single one of them would be wiped from the face of the universe.

But do I have the right? He asked himself. However vile they may be, did they have the right to life as a species? On the other hand, could he allow them to continue; they'd go on to destroy every life form they could. Even now, they were probably drilling to find any survivors. But so much more blood would be on his hands. He'd already attempted genocide on the Daleks on multiple occasions, but the vermin had always come back like a particularly murderous hateful rash, but to erase them forever with no chance of remorse? Could he commit two genocides for the sake of preventing one?

Actually, it was worse than that; if he put his plan into motion, there would be more than two species at risk; his own life was in the balance. The Time Lords could die out a second time, once again by his own hand. He'd been willing to risk his life before in thousands of situations; in a few of them, others had sacrificed themselves for him. His time had come. The Time Lords' time had come. He'd prevented the Time Lords from wiping out other species and activating the ultimate sanction by ending the last great time war and sealing them in a time lock to burn for all eternity; but now it seemed he was doomed to repeat their fate. He'd never wanted to be like them. This was why he ran away; all the red tape, corruption, power no species had the right to use.

But despite everything, despite everything he hated about them, he always wanted to rebuild the Time Lord race, but guide them towards the light, show them the wonders of the universe rather than cooping them up on a single planet, in a glass dome, assuming their own superiority because they could see so little of the rest of the universe. If they could travel, they would understand the universe, learn from it, and be more like him. But he couldn't repopulate the race on his own. He was all alone, with no-one to understand his burden.

All his life, there was never anyone quite like him, apart from Susan's grandmother. She was a traveller like him, before him, even. He'd never even thought about leaving Gallifrey until he met her and if she hadn't disappeared, he'd never have stolen (borrowed) the TARDIS in the first place. He'd never found her. Even if he did, would she even recognise him now- would she still love him now he was a serial killer?

Maybe this was how he'd find out- find her. Travel to the one world he'd never been to. He could make the world a better place with this one final act. The universe would be better off without the Sontarans, without the Daleks, without the Doctor.

And he could do it right now. He was the Doctor, and he was curing the universe's disease, exterminating the Dalek plague- but it would require something he'd never managed before in all his years.

He'd have to fix the chameleon circuit.


End file.
